Weekend Watch: 'Murder in a Small Town' & 'St. Elmo’s Fire' at 40

For Weekend Watch, we’re mixing things up a bit. Each week you’ll find two recommendations: one timely pick tied to what’s new or returning, and one personal pick that may be less tied to the calendar but worth revisiting. Together, they’ll give you both something current to stream and something enduring to rediscover.

Murder in a Small Town returned this week for its second season, a sign that the cozy mystery continues to resonate. Adapted from Howard Engel’s novels and filmed against the coastal backdrop of British Columbia, the series trades shock for something subtler: the quiet pull of community, character, and place.

At its center is Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland), a police chief who prefers books to brawls, and Cassandra Troy (Kristin Kreuk), a local reporter whose partnership with Karl deepens into romance. Their bond quickly becomes the show’s emotional anchor, lending warmth to the town’s darker turns.

The mysteries unfold at a measured pace, with crimes serving less as spectacles than as catalysts for character and connection. That restraint is part of the series’ charm: the suspense simmers, but it’s softened by the humanity of its leads and the rhythms of small-town life.

For viewers who value atmosphere and connection over brutality, Murder in a Small Town makes for a low-key weekend watch.

Joel Schumacher’s St. Elmo’s Fire turned 40 earlier this year, a milestone that invites both nostalgia and reconsideration. Released in June 1985, the film quickly became a cultural emblem of the Brat Pack era, bringing together Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Mare Winningham, in a portrait of post-college life that felt glamorous, chaotic, and raw all at once.

The story follows a tight circle of Georgetown graduates stumbling through the uncertain years after college. Kirby (Estevez) awkwardly pursues an older woman, Jules (Moore) unravels under the weight of addiction and debt, and Billy (Lowe), a saxophonist and young father, clings to his reckless youth. Their lives intersect at the bar that gives the film its title, where ambition, heartbreak, and friendship collide.

Critics at the time were largely unkind, dismissing the movie as shallow or overly melodramatic, and the “Brat Pack” label itself was often wielded derisively. Yet what once read as excess now feels closer to honesty. Four decades later, the film endures less as a polished portrait than as an unvarnished glimpse of how clumsy and combustible early adulthood can be.

The soundtrack helped secure its legacy. John Parr’s anthem “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” soared to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985, embedding itself in the cultural imagination. Even apart from the film, the song became a touchstone for ‘80s ambition and longing, inseparable from the movie’s identity.

The movie has also found a new place in the culture, serving as the spark for Andrew McCarthy’s 2024 documentary Brats, which revisited both the legacy and the complications of the Brat Pack era.

Rewatching St. Elmo’s Fire today reveals both its period trappings and its timeless core. The fashion, the hair, the glow of its cinematography place it firmly in the ‘80s, yet its themes of young ambition, insecurity, and the fragile bonds of friendship remain familiar. Forty years on, the film stands less as a flawless drama than as a reminder that growing up has never been graceful. For all its rough edges, it still burns with a humanity that makes it worth revisiting.

Whatever you choose—the measured suspense of Murder in a Small Town or the nostalgic glow of St. Elmo’s Fire—I hope it gives you a little escape, or maybe just a different way of seeing the week ahead. Enjoy your weekend, and thanks, as always, for watching along with me.